Tag Archives: Indigenous Americans

For some 500 years the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere have struggled to prove a simple fact: they and their ancestors were the first human occupants of this massive region. They weren’t members of the wildlife and they weren’t features of the various landscapes. They were real people who constructed real communities with the resources available. It’s taken a while, but they’re starting to gain that recognition. As someone of part Mexican Indian ancestry, it’s significant to me.

Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert is a Professor and Head of the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. A member of the Hopi Indian community, he is also the author of a number of books on the Native American experience in the contemporary United States; most recently Modern Encounters of the Hopi Past, in which he analyzes the ways the Hopi operated within and beyond their ancestral lands, including their participation in the U.S. military, American film industry, music ensembles, and higher education.

It’s a mission and a challenge that may not be fully realized in our lifetime. When one considers the brutal scope of the ongoing discrimination and oppression faced by Indigenous Americans, it’s not difficult to see why.
In 1998, Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right, nationalist Brazilian politician told “Correio Braziliense” newspaper, “It’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn’t been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians.” Bolsonaro is now president of Brazil.

What he and others of that bigoted mindset don’t seem to understand is that the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere never were completely “exterminated”; neither in Brazil nor here in the U.S. The colonialists and their descendants tried, but even after half a millennia, they still haven’t won that war.

[The following land acknowledgement was part of a keynote address I gave at the Annual Celebration of Diversity Breakfast at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The event, which had over 400 people, took place on November 9, 2018. Over the years, people have approached Indigenous land acknowledgements in various ways. This is how I did it, and I am hopeful that my approach will be of some help to others.]

You are on Indian Land

Good morning everyone. It is great to be here. I am so honored by this opportunity.

I was told earlier this week that I had about 8 minutes at the mic.

And so in true Hopi fashion, I am going to keep my remarks short and sweet.

In recent months, officials and others on campus have started their public gatherings (including this gathering) by reading an official statement that acknowledges the Indigenous people who were…

Seattle, Washington has become the latest city in the United States to rename Columbus Day “Indigenous Peoples Day.” On October 6, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to celebrate the nation’s indigenous inhabitants instead of the Italian-born adventurer who didn’t know where he’d actually landed. Columbus Day has always been a point of contention for Native Americans. Saying that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America is akin to stating that Galileo “discovered” the moon. Many Americans of European extraction believe that Columbus technically opened the door for a new society. Most Indians feel it was the start of the world’s greatest and longest-lasting holocaust; the effects of which are still being felt today throughout the Western Hemisphere.

In 1992, celebrations for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage met with strong blowback from indigenous groups. A parade in Denver, for example, was canceled that year for fear that protests would turn violent. Some have, given the hostilities that exist; due, in no small part, to the racist ideologies of some White Americans, as well as the arrogance of some Italians. It’s odd because Columbus couldn’t get financial backing from his own people. In the 15th century, Italy was actually a collection of city-states that wouldn’t jell into a single nation until the 1860s. Even now, some people may refer to themselves as Sicilian, instead of Italian, which is like saying the sky is azure, not blue. Columbus turned to Spain and Queen Isabella I. He had wanted to find a western route to India to gain an advantage in the lucrative spice trade. It’s difficult to imagine now, but spices were as precious as gold and silver at the time.

I’ve always felt Native Americans should have their own holiday. I don’t see the point in revising Columbus Day; let the Italians have their holiday, if they want. All the renaming won’t change history. We simply can’t go back and make everything all better again. It’s happened, and we need to continue moving forward, while still acknowledging the past. We’re all part of the human race, so ethnic divisions serve no real purpose. Some day, I hope, everyone else will realize that.